9. Surah At Tawbah
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
يَا أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ
آمَنُواْ لاَ
تَتَّخِذُواْ
آبَاءكُمْ
وَإِخْوَانَكُمْ
أَوْلِيَاء
إَنِ اسْتَحَبُّواْ
الْكُفْرَ عَلَى
الإِيمَانِ...
9: 23. O ye who believe!
take not for protectors your fathers and your brothers if they love infidelity above faith:
...وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُم مِّنكُمْ فَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ ﴿٢٣﴾
if any of you do so, they do wrong.
Others version:
Evildoers
9: 23 O you who have attained to faith! Do not take your fathers and your brothers for allies if a denial of the truth is dearer to them than faith; for those of you who ally themselves with them – it is they, they who are evildoers!
9: 23
Asad …………..it is they, they who are evildoers! [Note 31]
Pickthall O ye who believe! Choose not your fathers nor your brethren for friends if they take pleasure in disbelief rather than faith. Whoso of you taketh them for friends, such are wrong doers.
Transliteration Ya_ ayyuhal lazina a_manu_ la_ tattakhizu_ a_ba_'akum wa ikhwa_nakum auliya_'a inistahabbul kufra 'alal ima_n(i), wa may yatawallahum minkum fa ula_'ika humuz za_limu_n(a).
[[ Asad 31 – The term walayah (“alliance” or “friendship”) is used in this context in the sense of an alliance against other believers, as in 3:28, (Regarding the wider. spiritual implications of this expression, see surah 4, note 154.) That is does not refer to “friendship” in the sense of normal human affection is obvious from the many exhortations in the Quran to be good to one’s parents and kinsfolk; and, more explicitly, from 60:8-9, where the believers are reminded that friendly relations with unbelievers who are not hostile to the Muslim community are permissible, and even desirable. (see also Manar X, 269 ff., where a similar interpretation is advanced.). ]]
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[[12: 78
Yusuf Ali They said: "O exalted one! Behold! he has a father aged and venerable (who will grieve for him): so take one of us in his place: for we see that thou art (gracious) in doing good."
Pickthall They said: O ruler of the land! Lo! he hath an aged father, so take one of us instead of him. Lo ! we behold thee of those who do kindness.
Yuksel They said, "O Governor, he has an elderly father, so take one of us in his place. Indeed we see you as one of the good doers."
Transliteration Qa_lu_ ya_ ayyuhal 'azizu inna lahu_ aban syaikhan kabiran fa khuz ahadana_ maka_nah(a_), inna_ nara_ka minal muhsinin(a).]]
12: 79 [Yusuf, Mecca 53]
Yusuf Ali He said: "Allah forbid that we take other than him with whom we found our property: indeed (if we did so) we should be acting wrongfully."
Pickthall He said : Allah forbid that we should seize save him with whom we found our property; then truly we should be wrongdoers.
Yuksel
He said, "God forbid that we would take anyone except he whom we found our belongings with. Indeed, we would then be wrong doers."
Transliteration Qa_la ma'a_zalla_hi an na'khuza illa_ maw wajadna_ mata_'ana_ 'indah(u_), inna_ izal laza_limu_n(a).
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15. [al-Hijr, Mecca 54]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَإِن
كَانَ أَصْحَابُ
الأَيْكَةِ
لَظَالِمِينَ ﴿٧٨﴾
15: 78. And the Companions of the Wood were also wrongdoers;
C2000. "Companions of the Wood": Ashab ul Aykah. Perhaps Aykah is after all a proper noun, the name of a town or tract.
Who were the Companions of the Aykah?
They are mentioned four times in the Quran, viz., here, and in 26:176-191; 38:13; and 50:14.
The only passage in which any details are given is 26:176-191. There we are told that their Prophet was Shu'aib, and other details given correspond to those of the Madyan, to whom Shu'aib was sent as Prophet-,
see 7:85-93. In my notes to that passage I have discussed the question of Shu'aib and the Madyan people. It is reasonable to suppose that the Companions of the Wood were either the same as the Madyan, or a Group among them or in their neighbourhood.
فَانتَقَمْنَا
مِنْهُمْ وَإِنَّهُمَا
لَبِإِمَامٍ
مُّبِينٍ ﴿٧٩﴾
15: 79. So We exacted retribution from them.
They were both on an open highway, plain to see.
C2001. Both: i.e., The Cities of the Plain and the Companions of the Aykah.
15: 78
Asad …..were inveterate evildoers,
Pickthall And the dwellers in the wood indeed were evil-doers.
Yuksel The dwellers of the forest were wicked.
Transliteration Wa in ka_na asha_bul aikati laza_limin(a),
15: 79
Asad and so We inflicted Our retribution on them.
Pickthall So We took vengeance on them; and lo! they both are on a high road plain to see.
Yuksel So, We sought revenge from them. They were both on an open plain.
Transliteration Fa-ntaqamna_ minhum, wa innahuma_ labi ima_mim mubin(in).
[Asad note 56: As is evident from 26:176 ff., the “dwellers of the wooded dales [al-aykah]” were the people of Madyan, who refused to pay heed to their prophet, Shuayb, and were thereupon destroyed, apparently by an earthquake and/or a volcanic eruption [cf. 7:85-93 and 11:84-95] ].
Asad note 58: I.e., the people of Lot and those of Shuayb who inhabited adjacent regions [see surah 7, note 67], and whose fate should be an example as plain to see as the highway which passes through the regions once inhabited by them]
[[ Ali’s note - 2000 "Companions of the Wood": As-hab ul Aikati. Perhaps Aika is after all a proper noun, the name of a town or tract. Who were the Companions of the Aika? They are mentioned four times in the Qur-an, viz., here, and in xxvi. 176-191; xxxviii. 13; and 1. 14. The only passage in which any details are given is xxvi. 176-191. There we are told that their Prophet was Shu'aib, and other details given correspond to those of the Madyan, to whom Shu'aib was sent as Prophet;, see vii. 85-93. In my notes to that passage I have discussed the question of Shu'aib and the Madyan people. It is reasonable to suppose that the Companions of the Wo